Currently Playing:

However I guess the reader base are no fans of racing (or sports). The first mairo kart (8) is at #169, while the only other racing game is Gran Turismo at #220. Is that all GTs together or the first one?? Grim Fandango is in there, Doom and even Zork 1, a text adventure from 1980. Yet the top 10 is mostly recent games, odd mix of readers.

The list definitely skews towards more recent games, which I think entails the respondents skewed relatively young. Recency bias may come into effect as well. We don't see a 16-bit game until Chrono Trigger at #11, there's not an NES game until Super Mario Bros. 3 at #37. In total, I counted only three NES games in the Top 100, and only five SNES games. The highest-ranked Genesis game was Sonic 3 at #159. The only games from the Golden Age of Arcades that I saw were Galaga and Donkey Kong (no Pac-Man!) and they were close to the bottom. So many classics are way down the list. I mean, how the hell else does BioShock Infinite and Destiny end up ranking higher than, Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat II, Mega Man 2, Super Mario Bros., or Doom?

I'd really like to know what the age demographics of this poll were and their platforms owned. If I had to venture a guess, there weren't a ton of grizzled old Gen X vets like me that have been playing since the 80s.

Currently Playing:

Ocarina of Time and Final Fantasy VII have once again stood the test of time I see. I doubt those other games at the top would still be in the top 5 of such a list after 21 years, regardless of how good or not they may be.

Yeah, a somewhat strong recency bias and an even stronger western bias. I see some titles that are more old-school like Zork I, Sid Meier's Pirates, Baldur's Gate and Diablo, but overall important titles are missing, Heroes of Might and Magic III is the only entry in the HoMM series, and the base Might & Magic series is missing completely. Similarly no Ultima, no Monkey Island, no Maniac Mansion, no no Space/Kings Quest, no Indiana Jones. Grim Fandango is really the only LucasArts adventure? Dragon Quest VIII is the only Dragon Quest on the list. Monster Hunter World is the only MonHun title. No Warrior's entry. I'm not too much into arcade, but it seems lackluster in that regard too. Very restricting list.